Hepburn was a cosmopolitan from birth as her father was an English banker and her mother a Dutch baroness. In the movies she appeared as a delicate adolescent, a look which remained until her last movie Always directed by Steven Spielberg. Her career as actress began in the English cinema and after having been selected for the Broadway musical "Gigi" she debuted in Hollywood in 1953. With Roman Holiday she won an oscar; her favorite genres were the comedies like Sabrina or Love in the Afternoon. At the end of the sixties she retired from Hollywood but appeared from time on the set for a few films. From 1988 on she worked also for UNICEF.



Always (1989): $1,000,000
Bloodline (1979): $1,000,000 + % of gross
Robin and Marian (1976): $1,000,000
Wait Until Dark (1967): $750,000 +10% of profits
Two for the Road (1967): $750,000
How to Steal a Million (1966): $750,000
My Fair Lady (1964): $1.1 million
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961): $750,000
The Unforgiven (1960): $200,000
The Nun's Story (1959): $250,000 + 10% of gross
Funny Face (1957): $150,000
War and Peace (1956): $350,000
Sabrina (1954): $15,000
Roman Holiday (1953): $12,500

Was first choice for the lead in A Taste of Honey (1961). Mother of Sean H. Ferrer, with first husband, Mel Ferrer. Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world. [1990] Interred in Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland. Turned down the film Gigi (1958) after creating the character in the Broadway non musical play. Had a breed of tulip named after her in 1990. She won the 1953 Best Actress Academy Award for Roman Holiday (1953). On March 25th, 1954, she accepted the award from the much revered Academy president Jean Hersholt. After accepting the award, Audrey kissed him smack on the mouth, instead of the cheek, in her excitement. Minutes after accepting her 1953 Oscar, Audrey realized that she'd misplaced it. Turning quickly on the steps of the Center Theater in New York, she raced back to the ladies' room, retrieved the award, and was ready to pose for photographs. Was fluent in English, Spanish, French, Dutch/Flemish and Italian. She confessed to eating tulip bulbs and tried to bake grass into bread during the hard days of World War II. Was trained as a dental assistant before making it big. Henry Mancini said of her: "'Moon River' was written for her. No one else had ever understood it so completely. There have been more than a thousand versions of 'Moon River', but hers is inquestionably the greatest". Like Humphrey Bogart, Hepburn also starred in five of the movies listed by American Film Institute in its Top 100 U.S. love stories (2002). They are Roman Holiday (1953), ranked #4 on the list, Sabrina (1954) ranked #54, which co-starred Bogart, My Fair Lady (1964) ranked #12, Two for the Road (1967) at #57 and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) #61. Measurements: 34A-20-34 (as recorded in 1953), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine) In Arnhem, Holland, during the Second World War, she worked with the Dutch Underground, giving ballet performances to collect donations for the anti-Nazi effort. Told People Magazine that she was very self-conscious about her size-10 feet. In 1993 she became the thirteenth performer to win the Triple Crown of Acting. Oscar - Best Actress for Roman Holiday (1953), Tony for Best Actress in a Play for "Ondine" (1954) and Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement - Informational Programming for "Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn" (1993). In 1996 the British magazine Harpers & Queen conducted a poll to find the most fascinating women of our time. She was in the #1 spot. She was of Belgian, Dutch, English and Irish descent. Voted #1 in TheAge.com's Top 100: Natural Beauties of all time. She was voted the 18th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine. Her biggest film regret was not getting the Anne Bancroft role in The Turning Point (1977). "That was the one film", she later admitted, "that got away from me." When she failed to receive an Academy Award nomination for her role as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (1964), Katharine Hepburn wired her with a message of encouragement: "Don't worry about it. You'll get it one day for a part that doesn't rate it." Ironically, when Audrey's next (and last) nomination came for Wait Until Dark (1967) in 1967, Hepburn beat her in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) - in a part that arguably didn't rate it. According to her biography, "Audrey Hepburn: An Intimate Portrait", she made a vow to herself never to exceed 103 pounds. With the exception of her pregnancies, she succeeded. According to director William Friedkin, Audrey was Warner Bros. first choice for the role of Chris MacNeil in The Exorcist (1973) after her box-office successes with the studio's The Nun's Story (1959), My Fair Lady (1964) and Wait Until Dark (1967). She would only agree to star if the film were made in Rome. Both Friedkin and writer William Peter Blatty rejected the proposal. Asked for the part of Emma Jacklin in The Turning Point (1977) but Anne Bancroft had already been cast in the role. Lived together with Robert Wolders in the final years of her life. Her famous "little black dress" from Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), designed by Hubert de Givenchy, was sold at a Christie's auction for approximately $920,000 (5 December 2006). Godmother of Victoria Brynner, the daughter of Doris Kleiner and Yul Brynner. In Italy she was almost exclusively dubbed by Maria Pia Di Meo, except in her first two films (Roman Holiday (1953) (Vacanze Romane) and Sabrina (1954)) and in Green Mansions (1959) (Verdi dimore), where she was dubbed by Fiorella Betti. As of 2007, she and Katharine Hepburn are the only "Best Actress" Oscar-winners to share a last name. Of course, they are not related. Godfather of her first child, Sean H. Ferrer, was Scottish writer, A.J. Cronin. Once admitted that she would not have accepted the role of Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady (1964) if she had known that producer Jack L. Warner planned to have all of her singing dubbed. Broke her back during filming of a horse-riding scene in The Unforgiven (1960). Although not diagnosed with appendicular cancer until 1 November 1992, her son Sean H. Ferrer believes it had probably been developing over the course of the previous five years. Was a close friend of French actress Capucine. Died on the day of Bill Clinton's first inauguration as President of the United States. Her mother was Ella baroness van Heemstra (1900-1984). Her last humanitarian mission for UNICEF was to Somalia in the summer of 1992. She was reported to have begun feeling stomach pains towards the end of the trip, which sadly turned out to be cancer. Suffered from hydrophobia, a condition that severely hampered some of her scenes in Two for the Road (1967). When a shot called for co-star Albert Finney to throw Hepburn into a swimming pool, divers were placed on standby (off-camera) just to placate the actress after it was learned that she had a morbid fear of water.